Friday, October 14, 2011

I don’t make a lot of cupcakes, but since I’ve always been fascinated by the red velvet cake, I decided to try a version based on this venerable American classic.

I’ve gotten so many requests for cupcakes and red velvet cakes that I figured I’d kill two food wishes with one video. They came out really well, and as I tasted, I actually caught myself daydreaming about being on Top Chef Just Desserts.

I imagined I’d furiously finished frosting these red velvet cupcakes just as time expired (I think the faux-hawked prima donna with the Jacques Torres tattoo next to me hid the cream cheese to screw me over). I bring them up to the judge’s table, and watch as the lovely Gail Simmons takes a big bite. She swallows, smiles, and then says, “Really not that bad for a food blogger.” Okay, so she’s too classy to ever say that, but still, it would be pretty cool.

Anyway, back to reality. I will also post the cream cheese frosting recipe next week, just in case you’re wondering. I joke about the red food coloring in the clip, and it does give the cake such a unique look, but feel free to leave it out if that’s not your thing.

Party season is upon us, and what holiday dessert table wouldn’t benefit from a plate of these classic cupcakes? It would be like Johnny Iuzzini's face without the side burns. In other words, just not as good. I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

76 comments:

Truly mystic. Have been thinking about making these from the time I saw an episode of Masterchef Aus recently. Had not been able to get down to look for a recipe. Opened my reader, cleared out my reading list, and plop, there's another new item. I click on it and find this! Thanks, will be waiting for the frosting.

Not sure if the comment I posted went through, thanks to my not noticing whether there was a verification after the posting.

Have been thinking about this since watching a recent Masterchef Aus episode, but have not had the time to pull out a recipe and get down to it. Just as I finished clearing out my reading list this morning, I get a new item icon show up. I open it and this epiphanic moment happens. Thanks, will be looking out for the frosting before I get down to trying it out. Truly mystic!

Lovely. I just love red velvet cake and make it as cupcakes about every other year. I tend to be a 'no additives' kind of person but I found that for some reason the cake doesn't taste right without the red coloring! True also for tandoori chicken. Clearly taste is more complex than just nose and taste buds. Red food coloring is my guilty ingredient kept around for the express purpose of red velvet cake and tandoori chicken.

Tip -If you use a food coloring gel (like Wilton) or powder, you need less than if you use liquid food coloring. Also, you can make an all natural substitute using beet powder. India Tree offers premade vegetable based food dyes. I mention this only because it seems the #1 food color allergy always seems to be red! Personally, the small amount anyone ingests in a piece of cake or a cupcake doesn't bother me.

"Cultured buttermilk" (which is what is used in this recipe, as opposed to traditional buttermilk, the liquid left over after churning butter) is a type of fermented milk product, so it is both acidic and slightly thicker than milk (the idea to substitute it by mixing milk with vinegar takes care of the first but not the second item). I think you might be better off replacing it with a very thin (potable) yogurt type product.

Hi Chef! So, for high altitude, I did some research and winged it. I added about 1/3 cup flour, 1 egg, and replaced the amount of baking soda and baking powder in the recipeabout with 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda only (no baking powder).

They came out nice and moist, but with rounded tops. I thought they would deflate a little, but they never did. Maybe less baking soda?Thanks Chef!

Hi CJ,Strangest thing, I used what is supposedly natural food colouring (liquid), the tops are red but inside it's more of an orange. No biggie, just weird.Also my cupcakes slightly rose in the centre whereas yours are flat. I have a convection microwave, no oven, could this be why? Just curious.Thanks!

I'm a BIG dummy and thought you'd get a good laugh from my oops. I learned today WHY a busy mom should ALWAYS label her canisters. I noticed my flour canister was almost empty, so was pleased to find a "reserve" canister next to it that was quite full. Come to find out, the batter didn't mix quite right because it was powdered sugar, NOT flour. If I didn't have a rambunctious 2 and 4 year old screaming at me as I was baking, I MIGHT have noticed sooner. I used some wheat pastry flour and it still came out OK. Not great, but OK. Hope you got a laugh (or at least a chuckle) out of that one. :)

Chef John! I just made this and they were delicious. The frosting works perfectly with this (I used 1 1/3 Cups of powder sugar and I was impress how good it tasted). Thanks for this easy yet amazing recipe! Greetings from the Dominican Republic.

Hi i'm from germany and did my first red velvet cup cakes with cream cheese frosting ever!!!! your recipe is the best!!! I hammered in whole lot of food colouring but it still turned out chocolate brown. still super delicious though.... thanx a lot.

hi chef john! i tried this recipe but using the buttermilk substitute you posted. sadly, i didnt get the same results of your "wet" ingredients. mine turned out chunky and the butter/sugar/milk, i think solidified-- in short it was a one big mess!! :(would u happen to know what might have happened in the process?

i have powdered buttermilk as well but i dont know how to use it.. help please!

would you be able to give me a metric measurement of your recipes? since i'm from the asia pacific,, everything here is in the metric system. it would help out LOADS as i am a HUGE fan of yours and i am also a HUGE fan of Red Velvet :D

Wonderful cupcake. I was wondering what was the ingredient for the red color, did not know it was only a food coloring. Thanks a lot for the recipe. Will try this out and look for some substitute for the food coloring.

I have been thinking about making Red Velvt cake..your video just made it so easy to follow every step. Now I am a big fan of your video recipes!!! I am heading out the door to get the Red coloring...can I get it from Michael's? or any better places?

Sorry, but I don't a written recipe for that. I'd like to help, but I'm just about to leave for my mothers, and won't have time to type. Maybe a friend can do it for you? Also, I think you can go to the youtube video and turn on the captions.

Hi, tried your recipe today. I rarely baked, so this is a totally new experience for me. I omitted red coloring and vanilla essence since I'll most probably never use it again. Was prepping my wet ingredients when I poured both buttermilk and vinegar into the butter/sugar/egg mixture and the butter immediately curdled. Panicked, I threw it away and started again. Omitted the vinegar but same thing happened when I added the buttermilk.

Anyway long story short, I do not know why it curdled but decided to just go alone with it and threw all my dry ingredients in for mixing and made a dozen cupcakes, thinking it was going to fail. Even threw away the rest of the mixture. The cupcakes turned out lovely. Think I'll certainly try this again.

many greetings from Germany ! After buying your cookbook I simply had to try the red velvet cake. It was really easy I jusxt have 1 major problem: nomatter how much food color I take it doesnt turn red. Its brown after baking. After the tablespoon didnt help I put in another but that didnt help either. IT stayed brown after baking. On the second try I used 3 tablespoons of food color, no succes either. I have to ask is there any difference in food colors?

I wanted to make Red Velvet Cupcakes and since I love your blog, I tried your recipe. They came out great and when I frosted them, at least half of the hearts I put on there were meant for you :) So if you ever need one, get it here. (I translated your recipe for my blog)Thanks, Mel

P.S.: Food colours in germany are not very effective. I used 1,5 small tubes of gel colour with little effect. You should try to buy food colouring from the USA or get the expensive stuff for professionals ;-)